Urban Vegan's Bangin' Havana Beans and Rice

Just a quick post because I am cranking out proposals for various endeavors, in a seemingly never-ending loop... but at least I have good brain food!

Last night I made such a damn-good dinner that I was sad (for a second) that no one was there to eat it with me and complement me. (And then I cackled gleefully because I knew I had the rest all to myself.) However, maybe the reason why you make such good food when alone is because you are only trying to please yourself, and can afford to be more adventurous and/or ridiculous. Like, I decided to make the Havana Rice and Beans from the Urban Vegan cookbook, despite having only a 1/2 the ingredients. Further, I had a handful of cashews, so I decided to try the cashew sour cream from Vegan Brunch. If someone else was there I probably would have done something less time-consuming, that I actually had the ingredients for, but it ended up being lovely puttering around the apartment, leisurely making the components for my meal while simultaneously freaking out about transnational citizenship.

Anyways, it was so FREAKING good. I dunno why a simple beans and rice dish is so amazing, but one explanation is that Ms. Urban Vegan is a genius. Go out and buy her cookbook immediately. This is by far one of the least exciting-sounding recipes in the book, and its still phenomenal. There's a bay leaf involved, and veg broth, and vinegar... but still, I was doing double takes while I ate it, like "did I just make this? woah." And that's with half the ingredients. Meanwhile, the cashew sour cream was equally exultant, the only problem being that its so easy and has so few ingredients that I might make it every day. Wow.

So there you have it, another cheap and hearty meal with lots of leftovers and happiness. But just in case you think I've strayed too far from my daily pancake routine, here is my pal Ted enjoying one of the 3 batches of pancakes made over the weekend. Still the best bang for the buck, those pancakes.

(Yes ladies, he's single. :) )

Song of the Day: Joe Strummer and the Muscaleros- Global A-Go-Go

Dutch Hutspot!

*The Baltic Sea*
This desolate, romantic landscape is where I spent the first few days of 2010, in a little cottage near Kiehl with a group of friends. If you can believe it, one of the more spartan members of the group actually took a swim in the sea. Crazy, right? Germans.

Anyways, I'm already back in swing of things in fabulous Brussels now. Why "fabulous" you say? Well after flying all over the northern hemisphere for the break I came to realize how much I like this little town. Yes, Brussels, with all of its duo-linguistic issues, inferiority-to-Paris-complexes, and bureaucratic nightmares, is a great place to come back to. Its calm, the public transport covers every inch of the city (once you figure it out), and in terms of food, its way easier then I make it seem to eat well on budget. (It just takes getting used to... and speaking the language doesn't hurt, I'm sure.) And I finally figured out how to operate my kitchen with a minimum of fire hazards. (But then, I've only been back a week.)

One of my new budget dishes is actually a Dutch treat I learned from S. in Berlin. Its called "hutspot" and its essentially mashed potatoes and carrots-- baby food, but good baby food! I guess its usually made with speck (bacon) but among the group I ate it with I didn't notice anyone hesitating to get seconds from the vegetarian portion. The great thing about this is you can obviously get huge portions, making it good for a get together when everyone is broke, or just in the mood for some baby comfort food.

Dutch Hutspot
-3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1" slices
-8-10 boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
-1 large onion, diced
-3-4 cloves garlic, diced
-nutmeg
-soymilk
-earth balance

1. Place all the carrots and potatoes into a stockpot filled with salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 15 minutes depending on how many you made.
2. In the meantime, drizzle a good knob of olive oil in a pan and bring to medium heat. Add in your garlic and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and garlic is starting to brown.
3. When potatoes and carrots are done, drain in a colander then return to hot pot. Add in onions and garlic, a good couple knobs of earth balance, a drizzle of soymilk, a few pinches of nutmeg, and of course salt and pepper. Mash together with a masher until fairly blended. Taste, and adjust seasoning to taste. (I usually end up using more soymilk and butter after the initial mashing.)
Serve with a salad, or just eat straight out of the pot. :)

song of the day: Wir Sind Helden- Denk Mal

Bagel Mania and Haiti

For the last two weeks I have been doing only two things: writing papers, and making bagels. (Well, 3 things if you count eating the bagels.) I've basically been chilling in Berlin with S. and hyperventilating over my various topics in between massive bagel orgies. (I also developed a cool way to stack bagels for brunch, as illustrated.) I used the recipe from Vegan Brunch which I thoughtfully received over the holidays. Man that cookbook is awesome.

So basically we've been making both sesame seed and *trying* to make blueberry bagels, with varying degrees of success. Apparently the trick is to fold the blueberries in when frozen, quickly before rolling out the dough and boiling. However, I think the real trick might just be using dried blueberries... well, I'll give that a shot next time.

Anyways, I know bagels seem like a bit of a chore to make from scratch, but I would encourage people to try them. Like tamales, once you get the hang of it, its simple. And best of all, the end product of your hard work is BAGELS! I.e., avacado's best friend! Coffee's soul-mate! And the best thing to bring to brunch, hands down.

At any rate, the bagel part of the week was exciting, but I was somewhat less thrilled to hear about Haiti. One of my paper topics had to do with Haiti's debt to France (a very terrible story, as a matter of fact), so I was already spending a lot of time focusing on Port Au Prince when I heard the news from Berlin. Naturally, the vegan community is usually one of the best responders to things like this (since people that care about animals usually care about people, too!) so I know many of you are probably donating and participating in vegan bake sales. (If not, head on over to the PPK blog for more info.) My Dad, as a journalist, is there right now. And while I'm worried about him, I also know that journalists do a service during times of disaster by drawing attention to the needs of the community in harm's way, so I'm also very proud! Here are a few pictures he sent...


Hope that all of you in the blogosphere are safe, and if you are take a moment to thank your lucky stars (and donate a few more dollars...)!

Tamales!

This year for Christmas dinner I was in the mood for something kind of challenging, since my cooking has been repetitive at best and "just pancakes" at worst. After seeing Tofu Mom's post about tamales on her awesome blog, I figured they were just the ticket.


Now, everyone has their own method of making tamales, and I won't expound too much on the recipe here since you can find it in many places, including the above post and in your trusty Veganomicon. But what I will say is that even though I've often enjoyed these goodies at local Salvadorean and Mexican restaurants, they always seemed a bit too complicated to make: like you need to be in a kitchen in Mexico with your grandmother explaining to you exactly how to do it. And while it was tricky to find the corn husks, even in DC, I think the grocery shopping was actually the most complicated part. The rest of it, while time consuming, is not really difficult.

Essentially, you make the filling first, which could really be anything, then flour mixture, then assemble it in a corn husk, wrap and steam. We chose to make a simple mushroom filling, as well as a black bean and sweet potato filling (just a can of black beans, a steamed sweet potato, and some cumin and cinnamon.) The result was gorgeous little bundles of joy that looked not unlike presents, and were perfect with some salsa and soy sour cream. (Guac would also be a good addition.)
Unfortunately, we didn't have any leftovers, but I'm told they are very simple to freeze and enjoy later on. They were so perfect with some caesar salad on the side as a light and festive Christmas dinner.

My family actually liked it so much that when I took off for more days of miserable travel, this time to reach Hamburg for a new years celebration, they decided to make more! This time my Dad and little brother made the filling out of black beans, sweet potatoes, and garlic spinach, which sounds incredibly delicious. They also wrapped them in banana leaves which they were able to find at a market close by. My Dad's tip? "The trick is to have the masa kinda soupy, like thick peanut butter, and spread on on with a spatula, then a little filling."

My tip would be to make them as soon as possible because they are fabulous and hard to mess up!

Song of the Day: Flaming Lips- I can be a frog

Travel Hell and Christmas Eve Heaven

Ahhh holiday travel. Where two inches of snow translates into 3 days of travel delays.

Yes, my transit back to the good ole USSA was kind of a mess. Overnight in London Heathrow, overnight in ATL, numerous sleep-deprived marches through airports, but eventually, I made it home, to my hilarious dog (pictured) and adoring (or at least, adored) family. By the time I did make it back, there were 2 feet of snow on the ground, giving DC a freakishly rare white Christmas, and me a good excuse not to leave the house.

And you would think after being gone for 6 months I would have a lot of mail. I guess I felt like I was gone a long time and everyone would notice? But as a matter of fact, aside from student loan forms *shudder* all I received was one Christmas card... plus this awesome handmade cookbook-lette from Amey at Vegan Eats and Treats, "Cooking Up a Storm!"

Man was I excited to see that! This booklet is jam-packed with awesome looking recipes for all manner of deliciousness plus cute home-made drawings. It being Christmas, I went straight for the cookies and decided on the choco-cherry-pecan cookies. They took about 15 minutes all told, and they were so unbelievably delicious, especially with a tall glass of soymilk. Even in my sweets-filled household these went fast. Amey, your cookbook rocks! Thanks so much!

A few days after my initial arrival and many cookies later, my fam and I headed over to Peking Gourmet in Falls Church for the traditional Christmas Eve gorge. Peking Gourmet is famous for two reasons. 1.) It was President Bush (Sr.)'s favorite restaurant and there are pics of him splattered all over the place. 2.) The Peking Duck. You would think from these two snippets of info that I would hate the place, but actually I love it. It has a very limited vegetarian menu, but those items on it are phenomenal. I had the gourmet eggplant and my brother got a tofu dish that was equally fab.

I also love munching on the duck accompaniments: rice pancakes, plum sauce, and spring onions. Heaven. But truth be told, more than the food, I love the busy metro atmosphere in this spot, which has been in the Culmore shopping center forever and attracts hundreds of people over the holidays (and I suspect, most weekends.) The crowd out the door is huge on Christmas eve, but its always kind of exciting and we often see people we know. Definitely one of my favorite traditions of the holidays.

My other favorite tradition is the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I love being in Europe, but the melancholic angst of Charlie Brown is just not something that translates well. After all, how would you translate the following into french: "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie-Browniest!"

Ah, America.

Merry Christmas!

Back in the USA and cooking up a storm! But for now... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

just pictures...

Still not home for the holidays, still no camera, but here are some old, (but new to you!) pictures from the old days while I ponder my holiday menu and dream up ways of acquiring a new camera (or fixing my old one...)

Broke Food: Risotto!

One of my favorite scenes in all of movie-dom is from The Little Princess. (Take your pick, but I prefer the Shirley Temple version.) Little Sarah has gone from wealthy and pampered prep school queen to orphan scullery maid, due to the unfortunate disappearance of her Father (and his fortune) during the Boers War. Now she must discard her fabulous clothes and furniture and live up in the freezing attic with the other little maid, while the other girls mock her relentlessly and the mean headmistress tortures her for being poor. (Let's just keep our Marxist analysis to ourselves...)

Then, one particularly freezing and dreary night, while the two little girls are sleeping, the next door neighbor's Indian butler, who has been charmed by little Sarah, replaces the squalor of their attic with a lush bedroom, filled with soft bed-dressing and clothes, a sumptuous buffet, and beautiful paintings. The girls wake up the next morning to think that they have conjured the whole thing through the power of imagination.

I think you can pull a similar trick with risotto. Through pure mind power (read: stirring a lot) you can transform plain old rice and broth into a warming gourmet meal. With the help of an friendly butler (read: mushrooms, squash, or other veggies) you can take it over the top to something truly magical. It really works for me when I am feeling like an orphan scullery maid, which is often these days. (Don't worry, its just finals period.)

So here is my recipe, which I've shared before (many times before), but made as plain and wallet-friendly as possible. I've been eating it so much lately I feel like a risotto making machine, but if its your first time, be vigilant- you don't want to ruin the bottom of your pan by not stirring enough.

Risotto w/ [your favorite and/or cheapest vegetable]
1 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
olive oil and/or earth balance
*1 c. white wine
1 cube veg boillon, or packaged veggie broth
Your vegetable of choice, plus an herb of choice

1. [First you will probably want to prepare the vegetable. If its mushrooms, slice and cook together with some thyme or oregano and olive oil in a saute pan until brown and slightly crispy. If using squash of pumpkin, slice in 1/2 and place in a pan in the oven along with some olive oil and sage and cook at 375 until soft. Asparagus can be sauteed or cooked in the oven with some oil and garlic. You get the picture.]
2. Fill a pot with water and boil along with a bouillon cube. Reduce heat to medium. (Alternatively, heat a package of veggie broth over low heat on the stove top.) Keep within reach of your other pot.
3. Melt 1 knob of Earth balance and a drizzle of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When bubbling add in garlic and onion and cook until translucent.
3. Add in rice and allow to coat with oil and mix with onions and garlic. Salt and Pepper liberally.
4. Add in white wine. (*If you can't afford wine like me, substitute two tablespoons of plain vinegar or white wine vinegar.) Stir until just absorbed.
5. Ladle in about a cup of the heated broth, stirring until absorbed by the rice. Repeat this step over and over again, ladling and stirring, until rice is no longer crunchy and coated in a thick creamy sauce.
6. At this point, add back in your cooked veggie, salt and pepper liberally, stir, reduce heat to low and cover. Serve with warm bread and a crispy salad.

Suggestions for combos:

Butternut squash and sage

Lemon and Asparagus (add in a bit of lemon juice and zest when you add in the cooked asparagus.)

Mushroom and Leek with thyme, my personal favorite.

I suspect one can stretch this recipe into new territories, like using beets, fake cheese, or non-italian flavorings. However, even minus the veggies this is pretty awesome comfort food, and the only thing you really have to buy is the rice. Ah, cheap, classic, kitchen magic. "Because every little girl cook is a princess."

Song of the Day: Neko Case- This Tornado Loves You

Broke Food: Pancakes!

I love Belgium and all, and I don't mean to be a bratty American, but oh man, was my Thanksgiving ever LAME! 12€ (which is twice my daily budget) for mashed potatoes with pumpkin in it and some lingonberry sauce at this terribly hip club for ex-pats. I would have made something myself, but not having the money nor apartment space to cook for everyone, I decided to go where everyone else was going...bad idea. Next year I'm having a real Thanksgiving, come hell or high water, and I will even get a you-tubed version of this year's Macy's parade and some football americano...

I was consoled, however, by a) free drink tickets and b) fantasizing about what glorious good eats I will cook up over my brief sojourn in the USA over the holidays. Not only will I have access to all my lovely cookbooks and pantry staples, but my little brother will be in residence as a sous chef... and you know I will be cooking up some latkes, pot pies, brunch goodies, plus all the goodies I missed on Thanksgiving. So, there's that to look forward to. Plus all the mouthwatering food in the blog-o-sphere... as usual, Team Vegan does not disappoint.

AT ANY RATE... still as poor as a Charles Dickens/ Victor Hugo character, so have been subsisting on many boring and simple meals such as oatmeal and lentils (but not together.) The next few blog posts will explore some new dirt-cheap meal alternatives, and though I still have no camera, I eat these items often enough to have a million pictures of them.

SEE?
Pancakes!
I never realized before how little time and money it takes to make pancakes from scratch. When you don't have any fruits or veggies, a little flour and soymilk and you still have something great. More importantly, when you do have fruits and veggies, you can transform them into something really special (and more crucially, filling and leftover-producing.) Here's my standard recipe (approx, as have no great measuring tools yet), plus variations:

1 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
3/4 C. soymilk
1 tbsp. sweetener
1 tbsp. oil or melted margarine

-Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until "just mixed." (You can also do the seperate bowl for wet/dry ingredients thing, although my research suggests this does not matter so long as you assemble your ingredients promptly.) Drop by the ladleful onto a medium hot greased skillet. Serve with syrup or whatev.

VARIATIONS: You can pretty much put anything in pancakes, which makes it ideal when you have like, 1 rotting pear on the shelf. You may have to adjust the liquid or flour, but essentially you just need to chop something into small pieces and figure out appropriate accompaniment. Examples...

Apple Onion Curry Pancakes - cut up an apple and a small onion and add to the mix, ommiting the sweetener. Add in 1 and 1/2 tsp curry powder. Serve with mango chutney and soy yogurt.
Banana Oatmeal pancakes- Replace 1/4 of the cup of flour with oatmeal flakes. Mash in a banana with wet ingredients. Add in a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon. (I've also made this with a rotting pear, and it was great.)
Cowboy Corncakes - Recipe here!

Pumpkin or squash pancakes- make like the banana pancakes and add in mushed leftover pumpkin or squash. This one can be sweet or savory depending on what's on hand.

I secretly suspect you can make almost anything into pancakes, and I intend to try it more as I get more and more desperate. Carrot pancakes? Mushroom pancakes? Brussels Sprouts pancakes? Why not... Yes, on my gravestone, please write: "Here lies T, she made everything into pancakes."

Song of the Day: Trude Herr- Ich will Keine Schokolade

Last Minute Thanksgiving Ideas

Well, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Belgium. I guess this isn't all that incredibly strange, since nothing about the colonist/Native American encounter has any real parallels in Belgian history, but still, I'm a bit disappointed. Its even a school day! Apparently an ex-pat club is having a big thanksgiving dinner at this fancy night-club with a menu including "pumpkin mashed potatoes." What? Come on Europeans, you're doing it wrong.

Anyways, here's what would have been on the menu at MY dream Thanksgiving.

1.) Glühwein!

A favorite in Christmas Markets in Germany, this is basically mulled wine: hot wine with spices and a little rum. Its totally delicious and a great start to the meal. My boyfriend's famous recipe is HERE. (Incidentally, hope to be enjoying that in Berlin in a few weeks!)
Another holiday cocktail? The Zombie, a trashy tiki classic with lots of holiday elements (cinnamon! citrus! rum!).

2. Roasted Golden Beet Salad with Beet Happening Dressing

Thinly sliced golden beets tossed in a simple marinade and roasted in the oven, then served over spinach salad with pecans with the leftover marinade as a dressing. Delicious, seasonal and gorgeous.

The dressing/ marinade:
Combine in a food processor: 2 chopped shallots, 1/3 C. Balsamic vinegar, 3 T. maple syrup, pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle in 1/3 C. Olive oil until blended.

3. Aunt Mary's Sweet Potatoes

A vegan version of my Aunt Mary's sweet potatoes have been my thanksgiving favorite since... oh, forever? So simple and delicious, and a great alternative to the marshmellow covered southern-style dish.

Apple-Pecan Sweet Potatoes

2 (big) Cans Sweet potatoes in syrup
Brown sugar
2 Apples
Soymilk
Earth Balance
Pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375. Pour out your sweet potatoes, reserving a few tablespoons of the syrup. Mash them in a medium casserole dish with the syrup, a little soymilk, and a tablespoon of brown sugar. (Whip 'em if you feel like it.) Next, slice your apples into thin, lengthwise slices, and cover the sweet potato mixture. Last, roughly chop the pecans and mix them with a fork with about 2 tablespoons earth balance and 1 1/2 tbs brown sugar. When this mixture is crumbly and the pecans are fairly coated, sprinkle this evenly over top of the apples. Bake until brown and bubbly on top.

4. Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Gravy
People are devoted to their own mashed potato recipes, so all I have to contribute is that, to fancy things up, I like to add a whole head of roasted garlic into the mix when I blend the potatoes with earth balance and soymilk. And it just wouldn't be the same without Dreena Burton's mushroom gravy recipe, although I have to say I can't find the recipe online. I suspect it wouldn't matter, because like meat gravy, everyone is convinced that THEIR mushroom gravy is the best. (Dreena's really is though!)

5. Veganomicon Seitan Pot Pies

An instant classic from Isa and Terry, these pot pies are perfect for when there are just a few vegetarians at the table, and you want to make all the turkey-eaters incredibly jealous.

*****

So no Thanksgiving for me, but at least I will be home over winter break and cooking up a storm with my vegetarian brother. Hope everyone has an amazing holiday week, with a minimum of relatives asking you if you've "given up on this whole vay-gun thing yet." I'll be looking forward to drooling (/sobbing) over delicious pictures in the weeks to come.

In the meantime, here are a few more places to look for vegetarian Thanksgiving guides, just to get even more excited:
The Epicurious Guide
The Times has been super veg-friendly this season, and has a zillion recipes.
Vegan.com's Thanksgiving Feast
Bryanna Clark Grogan's Holiday Recipes

Dammit, Janet!

My bloody camera is broken!

And its a shame, because I've been cooking such weird and good food lately, especially soups. (Cheap! Hot! Long-Lasting!)

However, will have use of a new camera soon and anticipate using it for various baking experiments with my crazy European oven. In the meantime, I will just be spying on everyone else's blogs and crying about Europe's mystifying lack of Thanksgiving.

Good luck with Bad luck

(Obligatory Brussels Photo: Grand Platz!)

I'm always amazed at how people can continue to latch on to the belief that people are inherently bad, selfish animals. Sure, you can find plenty of evil things that people do, but they so dim in comparison to the incredibly good things that people do, for no apparent benefit to themselves.

Take the other day. I'm on the bus, and this girl in the seat across from me leaves her cellphone without noticing. The girl sitting next to her, leaps off the bus, and runs down the street to return it to her. In the process, the bus doors close, leaving her to wait for the next bus 15-20 minutes later. Most remarkably, this girl just smiled and shrugged when the doors closed in her face! Just to be nice, she missed her stop and added another wait to her, no doubt, busy morning. I love people.

A similarly bizarre kind thing happened to me the other day, when I was approached by someone who recognized me from my drivers license photo and handed back my wallet! The money was gone, but the documents and identity cards were all intact! Its so amazing how the initial tragedy- losing the wallet, is completely out-shined by the random act of kindness that followed it.

My friend Kat said that I evidently have "good luck with bad luck", and I couldn't agree more! She also made me this amazing pumpkin soup that somehow, magically, lasted me a week when I was dying without my money access cards. There are more recipes for pumpkin soup out there than anything, but this one was basically pumpkin, potatoes, shallots, soy creamer, and veggie bouillon. It was, needless to say, simple and amazing!

When I finally got my money back, I got more good luck: I finally found some black beans! You wouldn't think this would be such a triumph, but I've really been dying for them and they are, evidently, very rare in these parts. I cooked them up with some hot sauce, onions and tomatoes, and served them in a tortilla with sauteed mushrooms and corn with some lime yogurt and avocados. I was literally in heaven. Certainly the first thing I will do upon return to the US is pig out on the freely-available Mexican food!

But still, even with all the good luck, the food expenses here are killing me. I've been eating a lot of witch-sauce, rice, couscous, lentils... I need to get back into strategizing a healthy diet with a shoe-string budget. No more avacados and eggplant for me, its back to basics! But then, restrictions can be good for your creativity as well... Wish me more good luck!

More black beans: chipotle black beans and red quinoa
More pumpkin:Kabocha, Eggplant, and Mushroom Stir-Fry
More Mushrooms: Creamy Mushroom and Leek Risotto


Song of the Day: The Clash- Career Opportunities